smash_logs | jingle bell jingle bell jingle bell

jingle bell jingle bell jingle bell

Who: YOU
What: SNOW
When: DECEMBER 6th
Where: EVERYWHERE
WHAT: SNOW (BONUS TREE DECORATING)

As a quiet Friday dawned on the school's campus, one could perhaps...feel it in the air. A creeping chill, a silent, barely-detectable indication that yes. Tonight would be the night.

title or description

By Saturday morning, the entire academy would be covered in snow.

BUT WAIT

title or description

That wasn't all--a large pine tree had made an appearance on the main quad, in desperate need of decoration.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

She almost laughed, actually. Almost. If anything, just hearing him made her smile grow a little bit more. He was... a bit idiotic, but she hadn't really forgotten that they had a deeper connection that she still wasn't fully informed of. Well, more or less that he certainly looked a bit like Connor in some facial features and her suspicion was that there was likely a relation there. And her son, while filled with good intentions, was occasionally proven to be something akin to a dim bulb.

It was a shame humour skipped Connor's generation.

"I see," she replied as casually as she could. "And now you are doing what you ought to have done to begin with." And how she moved into it was seamless and fluid, proof that Connor had spoken to her of him and their connections- modern day assassins and everything. "I assume Ratonhnhaké:ton will be assisting you."

Oh good. Connor did speak to her. With a silent sigh of relief to avoid that discussion himself, Desmond nodded and pocketed his hands into his hoodie.

"Yeah. I mean, if that's okay." Talking as if he were asking her if he could marry her son. ~~and then I laid down and died.~~

The way he seemed to imply an inquiry made her look over to him. Cocking an eyebrow, she said nothing at first and simply made him aware that she didn't understand why he couldn't just own what he was doing. Asking her permission made it sound incredibly odd and admittedly, she was about the same train of thought.

"Do you think it would displease me otherwise?" Ziio finally asked him. "He has a habit of getting himself involved with such things. You were not the first and you will not be the last. He is not a child and he can do as he pleases. The connection you bear, Desmond, is likely greater than either he or I know. So I would trust you to keep an eye on him when I can't."

Did she basically just try to hook Desmond into spying for her? Yes. Yes, she did.

"...No, I guess not." He wasn't sure what compelled him to think it would have, but Ziio left a strong and heavy impression on Desmond. She was striking in every aspect and a little more forward in a world of politics and its bloody secrets. It wasn't just a maternal reach, but Ziio was a powerful woman to her core, before and after child, and he felt it within his own body once upon a time and now while standing before her.

And as suspected, her words to follow had made their mark. It wasn't entirely difficult to catch on to what she was suggesting, so he decided to prod the subject.

"There something in particular I should be keeping an eye on?" Someone? Truth be told, he was thinking about Haytham because that man needs every eye from every skull on him at all times.

Was there something in particular? At first she wanted to say there wasn't, but she realised that wasn't true. Not that she didn't trust Connor, but she knew he was naive and she knew that could get him into trouble if he wasn't careful. Which really left it up to her to watch over him, even in her subtle ways, which she'd already made a habit of.

Her head tipped as she eyed the modern day assassin and her words were chosen carefully. "Primarily anyone neither of us know particularly well. Some members of the staff- including but not excluding, Haytham, for I think he has no great likeness for his son. The political science instructor, Phoenix Wright, as he seems to be a close acquaintance. The physics instructor, Gordon Freeman, seems trustworthy and I think Ratonhnhaké:ton considers him his closest friend here."

Ziio folded her arms over her chest as she contemplated adding anything further. Who else had she seen Connor with frequently? Not that she really saw him that often. She supposed it left only the last one of import. "And his princess. He is very serious about her, which I do not necessarily dislike, but I have no great amount of trust for royal houses. In our homeland, it was a king from across the water responsible for the colonist expansion. This girl could be no different."

Then she looked back over to Desmond, "And anyone you feel would do him- or us, harm."

She's not fucking around, he thought, tightening folded arms to his chest. He let all those names sink in, Haytham's being the only one he did know for sure. Uncomfortably so.

Not wanting to make it apparent just how much he knew about Haytham - or really Ziio and Connor, for that matter - Desmond just looked Ziio in the eye and gave a firm nod. He would like to elaborate just on who he is, but he had to tell Connor first, despite believing Ziio may be more the wiser to whatever he would share. It was just... Well, it ran deeper. It tugged at strings that Desmond was unaware he even had.

"Got it. I won't let anything happen to him..." A brief pause. "Or you."

Ziio was only half wise. She knew there was more to Desmond than what Connor had told her. And she knew there was more to him than what he was exposing. But she also knew not to ask, for there were some things just not meant for her to know. Kind of akin to the First Civilisation and how there were some things forbidden to speak of. Somehow it kept her from prying, but to say she didn't want to know wasn't true in any form.

When she heard what he had to say, she began to nod. Up until he ended his words with a sentiment that seemed hardly necessary. And she almost popped out with the same thing she would have said to anyone else. I can take care of myself. Yet there was something in his tone that made her reconsider.

Looking over to him, she eyed him for a good deal of time in silence, like she was trying to understand why there was any part of him concerned for her. It wasn't like he knew who she was, or anything about her- as far as she knew. But when he said sentimental stuff like that, it made her think of something-

"That is something my son would say," she pinpointed quietly. "I'll keep myself out of harm's way for your benefit. If I can."

Her words pierced him in a non-lethal way. No, they struck swift and burrowed deep, but the blood that seeped from the wound was embracing, comforting. It was hardly an injury at all. Something about it still hurt, but he carried forth a smile, and held onto the 'I know' he wanted to say and instead said,

"I don't doubt that." Because he was confident in her strength, but most of all, he wanted to believe she wouldn't suffer the same fate again. She wasn't his mother, not exactly, but the connection was there for him and always would be.

She didn't get it. Or more to say that she didn't understand. But she knew there was something more and more than one when he'd looked at her, she saw something vaguely familiar. Perhaps in his features. Something changed in time, however. People always evolved and experienced differences as they aged. Society was really no different.

Eying him somewhat skeptically, but wholly curious, she was quiet when she addressed him. And as if to gauge his response, she tried to speak to him as though he was genuinely her child. "Who are you really, Desmond Miles?"

Were these the days before Abstergo had abducted him off the street, Desmond would've answered Ziio very differently. 'Just a bartender', perhaps, or 'Just another guy', but the words that came to the front of his mind and right to the tip of his tongue had surprised that memory of his former self in the back of his mind.

He drew his hood over his head and let the shadows cast across his eyes but not his handsome smile.

"Just an Assassin," he replied simply yet... proudly. It felt really good rolling off his tongue.

Despite his smile, he was worried about the conversation going further than he was prepared for. After all, Connor would be waiting for him and he would tell him everything. "Don't go telling anyone, of course." Not like he just did. ~~Worst Assassin~~

Just an Assassin, he said. And she thought there was something distinctly more about it. And to be fair, she learned nothing new that she didn't already know before, thanks to Connor. For many moments she eyed him in silence, almost incredulous. Like he really intended to feed her that and have her be satisfied.

But in the same way she didn't want to push her son too far, she felt like she couldn't with Desmond either. So she let it go, firmly determined that eventually she'd figure out the whole story, if she didn't just demand the information- something that was equally possible.

"I think I can manage to keep it between us," she replied with something akin to a sardonic smile.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

jingle bell jingle bell jingle bell

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject